June 7 (Bloomberg) -- R. Allen Stanford, convicted of a
$7 billion Ponzi scheme, should be sentenced to the maximum
allowable term of 230 years in prison, prosecutors argued in
court papers.

Stanford, who the government said is seeking a sentence of
“time served,” is to be sentenced next week in U.S. District
Court in Houston.

“Robert Allen Stanford is a ruthless predator responsible
for one of the most egregious frauds in history,” the Justice
Department said in a 34-page filing. “Displaying an audacity
that only further illustrates his depravity, Stanford seeks a
sentence of time served, brazenly arguing that there are no
losses” and rehashing arguments rejected by the jury that
convicted him in March.

Stanford, 62, was found guilty of defrauding more than
20,000 investors of $7 billion through the sale of what the
government called bogus certificates of deposit at his Antigua-based Stanford International Bank Ltd. A court-appointed
receiver gathering the ex-billionaire’s assets has located less
than $500 million in cash and assets to use to repay investors.

Stanford’s own sentencing recommendation was filed under
seal. Prosecutors said he asked U.S. District Judge David
Hittner for leniency, in part because he is a first-time
offender.

Stripped of Assets

Stanford also denied that investors suffered any losses
while he was running Stanford Financial Group and “complains
that he was stripped of all his assets,” by the government,
prosecutors said.

The recommended 230 years is at the top of the range of
sentences for Stanford’s crime under federal guidelines, the
prosecutors said in the filing.

“Nothing speaks more eloquently of Stanford’s character
than his sentencing arguments in this case,” the Justice
Department lawyers wrote. “After everything that he has done to
so many innocent victims, Stanford does not show a hint of
remorse for his misconduct, only the same arrogant, narcissistic
behavior that led to it.”

Stanford has been incarcerated as a flight risk since his
indictment in June 2009. He was charged about three months after
U.S. securities regulators seized his companies on suspicion
they were a “massive” Ponzi scheme, in which late-arriving
investors’ funds were used to pay earlier investors.

Robert A. Scardino, one of Stanford’s criminal-defense
lawyers, said by phone that his side is “hoping for the best
and preparing for the worst” at the June 14 sentencing.
Scardino declined to comment further, citing a court order not
to speak publicly about the case.

A Justice Department spokeswoman, Alisa Finelli, declined
by e-mail to comment on the filing.

The case is U.S. v. Stanford, 4:09-cr-0342, U.S. District
Court, Southern District of Texas (Houston).